Last month I had a conversation with someone who was referred to me by a good friend. For some reason, I felt I could be really honest with him since we have a friend in common.
As soon as he asked me his question, I knew the answer and blurted it out before I could take it back!
We had talked a few months back, and I saw he booked some time on my calendar and was not sure what he wanted to talk about. After about 15 minutes of updating me on his due diligence on different businesses he said…
“Erik, I don’t even know why I am calling you again, but you have been so helpful, and I have learned a lot talking with you…
I really want to do something, but………
and then he asks me a rhetorical question, “What would you call somebody like me?”
I said, “tire kicker?”
We both laughed, and he said “yes.”
Now, he is NOT a tire kicker, but he was kicking tires & not getting serious about starting a franchise, and the reason is….well, there are a million reasons not to start a business. Actually, most people talk themselves out of it for one reason or another.
I am not sure about the ending of his story, but I do know where he was yesterday, and he was not kicking tires. He was attending a Discovery Day for one of the brands I am looking at buying myself.
The best thing is not him attending a Discovery Day, but the fact that he had called me a month ago!
I really enjoyed our conversation, and I was just trying to help him as he shared what he was thinking. He may have been kicking tires for 6 months, but during that time he learned a lot about himself and what he really wanted in a business. My goal of that phone call was to help him get to the next phase of his journey, and really I didn’t do much.
I just pointed out two things, I had the right brand for him and his timing was better, nothing had really changed in terms of timing, but time had given him the opportunity to discover himself and what he really wanted out of a business. What he wanted changed or at least how he wanted to achieve it changed from the first time we spoke and that is not uncommon. It did not really change, it just became clear.
The right brand and the right time is key!
I love reconnecting with people I have spoken with in the past that did not move forward for different reasons and may not be ready to move forward now, but still, they have this thing in the back of their mind that they can not shake and want to do something.